This invention relates to a lever-operated connector assembly in which a lever is turned to connect a male housing and a female housing with each other or disconnect them from each other.
A lever-operated connector assembly of this type has been disclosed by Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 58-178289. The connector assembly comprises an outer connector and an inner connector. One of the connectors has engaging protrusions, while the other has an engaging lever. The lever is turned to engage with or disengage from the engaging protrusion, thereby to cause the inner and outer connectors to engage with or disengaged from each other.
The above-described conventional lever-operated connector assembly is as shown in FIG. 5. In the figure, reference character a designates a female connector connected directly to a printed wiring board p for a computer circuit; and b, a male connector. The male connector b has right and left walls each of which has a protrusion b1. The female connector a also has right and left walls each having a guide groove a1 which is engaged with the protrusion b1. The female connector a is provided with a lever c having cam grooves c1. The male connector and the female connector are connected with each other or disconnected from each other by turning the lever c.
As was described above, the lever-operated connector assembly shown in FIG. 5 has the lever c. Hence, it is advantageous in that the male and female connectors can be connected with each other or disconnected from each other with a smaller force than in the case of an ordinary connector assembly. However, in the case of a multi-pole connector which has a large number of terminals d and is elongated laterally, in order to connect the male and female connectors, it is necessary to push the terminals with a force greater than the mechanical strength of the connector housing. Hence, in this case, the middle portion of the male connector b is curved as shown in FIG. 6, so that the terminals are not sufficiently engaged with the mating terminals.